CA2250010C — Denaturants for sympathomimetic amine salts

USPTO Abstract

The present invention is directed to the addition of one or more pharmaceutically and biologically acceptable denaturants to sympathomimetic amine salt-containing pharmaceutical products to make these products less suitable as starting materials for the production of illegal drugs. In one preferred embodiment, the denaturant(s) and the sympathomimetic amine salt exhibit similar chemical and/or physical properties, so that purification of sympathomimetic amine by conventional extraction techniques is rendered difficult or essentially infeasible. In another preferred embodiment, the denaturant physically interferes with the extraction of the sympathomimetic amine salt from the pharmaceutical products i.e., emulsifies and/or alters the viscosit y of the pharmaceutical products in solution). Because the separation of denaturant(s) from the sympathomimetic amine salts is rendered impracticable, attempts to isolate the sympathomimetic amine salts from compositions of the invention are unsuccessful or results in preparations that are converted into adulterated illegal drug products. The present invention is directed to denaturant-containing sympathomimetic amine products and to methods for their preparation. The denaturant-containing sympathomimetic amine products are used for known indicationstreated by sympathomimetic amines.